_Thrice_ the brindled cat hath mewed;

and Zalim Khan, a beautiful Peruvian tale of thirty pages, by Mr.
Fraser. The French story, La Fiancée de Marques, is a novelty for an
annual, but in good taste. Tropical Sun-sets, by Dr. Philip, is just
to our mind and measure:--

A setting sun between the tropics is certainly one of the finest
objects in nature.

From the 23rd degree north to the 27th degree south latitude, I used
to stand upon the deck of the Westmoreland an hour every evening,
gazing with admiration upon a scene which no effort either of the
pencil or the pen can describe, so as to convey any adequate idea of
it to the mind of one who has never been in the neighbourhood of the
equator. I merely attempt to give you a hasty and imperfect outline.

The splendour of the scene generally commenced about twenty minutes
before sun-set, when the feathery, fantastic, and regularly
crystallized clouds in the higher regions of the atmosphere, became
fully illumined by the sun's rays; and the fine mackerel-shaped
clouds, common in these regions, were seen hanging in the concave of
heaven like fleeces of burnished gold. When the sun approached the
verge of the horizon, he was frequently seen encircled by a halo of
splendour, which continued increasing till it covered a large space of
the heavens: it then began apparently to shoot out from the body of
the sun, in refulgent pencils, or radii, each as large as a rainbow,
exhibiting, according to the rarity or density of the atmosphere, a
display of brilliant or delicate tints, and of ever changing lights
and shades of the most amazing beauty and variety. About twenty